Stories of hope are sometimes grounded in success. Sometimes they are the result of overcoming difficulties. And sometimes they are a story of coming home.

For Renee Alexander '74, director of Diversity Programs in Alumni Affairs and Development, her story encompasses all three. She was the featured speaker at the first event of the 2011 Soup and Hope series, now in its fourth year, Jan. 20 at Sage Chapel.

Just before graduating from Cornell, Alexander recalled walking into her assistant dean's office and saying, "I'm never going to set foot on a college campus again." She went to New York City to be a journalist, and within two years landed a Madison Avenue advertising position. "Success was sweet; success was intoxicating," she said.

The next 10 years were a blur of corporate jets, travel and impressive income. "I was good at success," Alexander said.

A series of devastating events in the 1980s changed everything, beginning with Alexander waking up in the middle of the night to find her house ablaze. She escaped, but not before half her house was completely engulfed. A year later, she broke her ankle roller-skating; within the same year the car she was driving was broadsided by a driver running a red light. Alexander was hospitalized for 10 days.

The turning point came, Alexander said, when she was recounting her difficulties to her older brother and said she had the worst luck. He countered, "You have the best luck in the world. You survived those things." Alexander began to think about her values and her life's direction.

In spite of her earlier resolve to never return to a college campus, Alexander found work at a community college in the south Bronx, matching graduating Hispanic women with local businesses in need of employees. "I began to make connections with the students," she said, and she went on to get a master's degree in counseling.

Disaster struck again on Sept. 11, 2001, when Alexander lost her husband and a very good friend in the attack on the World Trade Center.

In June 2002, some friends of hers who were coming to Ithaca for Reunion urged Alexander to join them. She did -- and came back the next two summers as well. She accepted her current position in Alumni Affairs and Development in 2006.

"I've come full circle," she said, closing her story by saying, "Never give up, never lose hope."

Sponsored by a number of Cornell organizations, the Soup and Hope series aims to build a sense of community. Janet Shortall, series organizer, assistant dean of students and director of Empathy, Assistance and Referral Services, noted that many of the 120-some attendees are Soup and Hope "regulars" from years past, some even from downtown.

Dwight Carroll is providing the music that bookends each talk, selected to complement the speaker's message. Dining Services provides the soup.

The next Soup and Hope at Sage Chapel will be Feb. 3 at noon, featuring Marcia Eames-Sheavly of the Department of Horticulture.